Positively-locked coupler cross key



April 8, 1930.- A. P. HousHoLDr-:R Er AL 1,753,292

POSITIVELY LOCKED COUPLER CROSS KEY I Filed Aug. 27, 1926 5V @HHC www Arrows/5v5 Patented Apr. 8, 1930 STATE TT enrich'.Y

ALBERT IP. HOUlSI-IOLDER AND HENRY IVI. KELLY, F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI POSITIVELY-LOCKED COUPLR CROSS KEY Application filed August 27, 1926. Serial No. 131,870.

Our invention relates to a new and useful improvement in a positive lock for coupler cross keys for railroad cars, and has for its object to securely hold said coupler cross key in position without depending on cotter pins, which have heretofore been employed and which are subjected to a shearing action when the car is in motion, and which occasionally are sheared olf permitting the coupler cross key to work out, thus letting the'coupler drop and thereby seriously endangering that and succeeding cars in the train if by such dropping of the coupler a wreck occurs, as is usually the case. It is to prevent the possibility of such an occurrence that our improvement is designed.

Fig. I is a top view of a part of the coupler mechanism showing the coupler cross key with our locking device applied thereto.

Fig. II is a side elevation of the same with the coupler cross key partly in section.

Fig. III is an end view of the same largely in section.

Fig. IV is an enlarged side view of our locking device applied to the end lof the coupler cross key.

Fig. V is a modification of the same. In the drawings, 1 designates the draft channels and 2 the draft lugs riveted to said channels. 3 is the coupler yoke through the forward ends of which passes the coupler shank 4. 5 designates a cover plate and 6 a tie strap. The plate 5 and strap 6 are secured to the draft channels 1, as shown in Fig. III.

7 are the draft springs.

8 designates a coupler cross key, which passes through apertures in the channels 1, lugs 2, coupler yoke 3 and coupler shank 4, and is adapted to securely support the coupler shank 4. It will be noted particularly in Fig. III that one end of the coupler cross key 8 is turned, as at 9, at a right angle to the body of said key, which prevents said cross key 8 from passing on through the apertures already referred to. The other end of said cross key 8 is slotted as shown by dotted lines at 10 (Fig. I) to receive the key keeper, or locking device, now to be described.

11 designates our key keeper consisting of two bifurcated ends 12 and 13, respectively.

The two arms 14 and 15 at the end 12 are of substantially equal length, the arm 15 having a hollowed-.out space 16 near its inner end. The two arms 17 and 18 at the end 13 are not of equal length, as appears in F igsfIV and'V. The arm 18 is tapered as shown at 19 and pro? jects only slightly beyondthe body of the keeper. 20 is a cotter pin passing through the arms l4gand l15 at the end 12 Aof saidkeeper 8.

" In the mo'diiication shown in'F ig. V, the

cotter pin 20 may be arranged to pass not only through'V openings in the arms 14 and 15, butalso through an `opening in the end of the coupler cross key 8 which is'adapted to register with the openings in said arms 14 and 15,

so that said cotter pin 20 may extend through the arms 14 and 15 and the cross key 8 also.

21 is a follower plate against which one end l, l

of the draft springs 7 is adapted to rest.

In the operation of our locking device, the arm 15 is passed through the rectangularly shaped aperture in the end of the coupler cross key 8. The hollowed out space 16 per-V mits the turning of the locking device so that it lies parallel with the width of said cross key. The width of the aperture in the cross key 8 is sufficiently greater than the web or body connecting the two sets of upper and lower arms of the device 11 so that the short arm 18 at the end 13 may pass through said aperture when the device 11 is being rotated in said aperture. When the device is in the position shown in Figs. IV and V, the cotter pin 20 is inserted either through the armsV l" only of the end 12,'as shown in Fig. IV, or through both the arms at the end 12 and the cross key 8 itself, as shown in Fig. V. This latter method of placing the cotter pin 20 is for additional security, but we believe that n" the method of placing said cotter pin 2O as shown in Fig. IV is amply secure. It is apparent that with our locking device placed on one end of the cross key 8, the other end being turned to form a head, the cross key cannot be worked loose, nor can the device 11 be sheared off by the normal operation of the car.

We claim:

l. A locking device for a coupler cross key,

CII

said cross key being provided with an aperture near one of its ends, said locking device comprising a rigid member adapted to seat in said aperture, and having portions adapted for location longitudinally of said aperture at opposite sides thereof which are longer than said aperture, said member being provided with bifurcated ends, the arms of each of said ends being adapted to extend above and below the upper and lower surfaces, respectively, of said cross key, and means for locking said member in position with respect to said cross key, substantially as described. Y

2. A locking device for a coupler cross key, said cross key being provided with an aperture near one of its ends, said locking device comprising a member adapted to seat in said aperture, said member being provided with bifurcated ends, the lower arm of one of said ends being recessed to permit the insertion of said member in said aperture so that said member when in locking position lies across said cross key at a substantially right angle thereto, and means for locking said member in position on said cross key, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing we hereunto affix our signatures.

ALBERT' r. HoUsHoLDER. HENRY M. KELLY. 

